“Top ranks at the State Department remain largely unfilled, as are some key ambassadorships. Trump has not named anyone to lead the Transportation Security Administration, which screens people at airports, or to run the Homeland Security office charged with protecting the country’s physical and cyber infrastructure,” wrote Politico’s Andrew Restuccia. “His choice to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency is awaiting Senate confirmation, but Trump has not named a deputy.”

Trump has yet to name an Assistant Attorney General of National Security at the Justice Department, nor has he named a deputy at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Trump has yet to nominate a director for the National Counterterrorism Center and there is still the pressing question of a permanent director for the FBI.

These vacancies form critical blind spots in the nation’s ability to fight foreign and domestic terrorism.

“This is a team sport,” Max Stier — the head of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service — told Politico. “It’s critical to have a full team.”

ADVERTISEMENT

However, the chaotic nature of Trump’s White House, his many grudges against political figures who were critical of him during the campaign, and the unprecedented number of factionalized leaks pouring out of the administration have slowed hiring to a crawl.

Bedeviled by scandals and frequently appearing to skirt the edges of legality, Trump’s White House is finding that principled legal minds don’t want to work for the administration. In fact, many attorneys are avoiding Trump “like the plague,” according to reports.

“The leadership vacuum across the federal government has at times kept Trump from meeting promises made before he took office,” wrote Restuccia. “He blew past a 90-day deadline to craft an anti-hacking strategy, with no clarity on who was in charge of the issue.”

ADVERTISEMENT

While some officials believe that the nation would respond well in the short term to a terror attack — thanks to career professionals Trump has been unable to purge from key agencies — but problems would arise as the administration tries to recalibrate to new threats.

“In terms of an immediate response to an attack, the agencies will probably do fine,” said former State Department counter-terror coordinator under President Barack Obama Daniel Benjamin. “The real problems come later, when the administration has to readjust strategy to deal with the threat, do the hard work of figuring out if there was a vulnerability in some security or immigration system, and then remedy it.”

Thus far, Trump’s administration has yet to pass a single piece of successful legislation. Its executive order banning travelers from certain Muslim countries has been shot down repeatedly by federal courts. Trump is reportedly considering a major staff shake-up at the White House even as hundreds of positions remain unfilled in other areas of the government.

ADVERTISEMENT

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. Like you, we here at Raw Story believe in the power of progressive journalism — and we’re investing in investigative reporting as other publications give it the ax. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and legal efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. We’ve launched a weekly podcast, “We’ve Got Issues,” focused on issues, not tweets. And unlike other news outlets, we’ve decided to make our original content free. But we need your support to do what we do.

Raw Story is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. We’re not part of a conglomerate, or a project of venture capital bros. From unflinching coverage of racism, to revealing efforts to erode our rights, Raw Story will continue to expose hypocrisy and harm. Unhinged from billionaires and corporate overlords, we fight to ensure no one is forgotten.

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. Like you, we here at Raw Story believe in the power of progressive journalism — and we’re investing in investigative reporting as other publications give it the ax. Raw Story readers power David Cay Johnston’s DCReport, which we've expanded to keep watch in Washington. We’ve exposed billionaire tax evasion and uncovered White House efforts to poison our water. We’ve revealed financial scams that prey on veterans, and efforts to harm workers exploited by abusive bosses. We’ve launched a weekly podcast, “We’ve Got Issues,” focused on issues, not tweets. Unlike other news sites, we’ve decided to make our original content free. But we need your support to do what we do.

Raw Story is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. We’re not part of a conglomerate, or a project of venture capital bros. From unflinching coverage of racism, to revealing efforts to erode our rights, Raw Story will continue to expose hypocrisy and harm. Unhinged from corporate overlords, we fight to ensure no one is forgotten.

Ex-prosecutor demands congressional investigation after latest report on the FBI and Brett Kavanaugh

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh had another allegation of sexual misconduct revealed on Saturday in a bombshell report in The New York Times.

"A classmate, Max Stier, saw Mr. Kavanaugh with his pants down at a different drunken dorm party, where friends pushed his penis into the hand of a female student. Mr. Stier, who runs a nonprofit organization in Washington, notified senators and the F.B.I. about this account, but the F.B.I. did not investigate and Mr. Stier has declined to discuss it publicly," the newspaper reported.